Notre Dame: What Winning/Losing a Bowl Means to Brian Kelly's Report Card

In the beginning of the season, all of the talk was about Notre Dame and what it was going to accomplish. The Fighting Irish had huge expectations like they usually do, but came up a little bit short of fulfilling them all.

Now it seems like a lot of the Notre Dame hype has died down a bit, but the Irish still have a game left. And it's a game that could either make or break this team moving forward into next season.

This has been a year of ups and downs for Notre Dame as before it started, many believed that it had a chance for a BCS bowl berth. It had one of the most talented teams in the country, Brian Kelly had a year under his belt and it's a veteran football team.

Instead, the Irish started the season with two very ugly losses, in which they turned the ball over five times in each. It resulted in starting quarterback Dayne Crist getting benched and questions popping up over whether head coach Kelly was the right man for the job. 

Sure, he has a great track record everywhere he has been and has a great offensive mind, but this is Notre Dame. When you become the head coach of a prestigious program like this, everything is magnified times 100. You're expected to win, win quickly and win big.

Losing to South Florida the way they did and allowing a Michigan comeback in the final seconds is unacceptable.

The Irish and Kelly do have a chance to turn things around, though, and end the season on a positive note. It's the Champs Sports Bowl, which takes place next week against the Florida State Seminoles, which is another great football program that has failed to live up to expectations this season.

Probably the best thing about this whole game is that it is receiving very little hype, so the teams can focus mainly on the game itself. Neither are distracted about the little success they've had this year or talks of their coach being fired if they don't turn things around.

Kelly has had to deal with those things all season long.

Notre Dame is always talked about during the offseason and every move it makes is watched very closely. A win in this year's bowl game will make things a lot easier for the head coach. It's the only thing to get the bad taste out of its mouth that it's had to deal with all season long.

A loss would not be good for the Irish, as it would just give critics something else to pile on top of a sub-par year.

Both Florida State and Notre Dame could use this victory and build on it heading into next year. Although Kelly could use it a lot more.

Randy Chambers is a B/R Featured Columnist that covers College Football and the NFL. You can contact him @Randy_Chambers or [e-mail]